![]() ![]() Regional Medicines Optimisation Committee (South) non-medical prescriber representative Launched as a major source of funding behind the PCN DES, the ARRS provides money for networks to hire and create multi-disciplinary teams, against the Government’s target to introduce 26,000 non-GP staff into primary care.Steve Williams MPhil, BPharm (Hons) Pharmacist Independent Prescriber, Clin Dip Pharm MRPharmSĬurrent membership of national organisations / working groups Last summer, Pulse revealed that up to 40% of funding available via the ARRS was unspent in each of the first two years of the scheme. ![]() That just 6% of ARRS money is unspent marks a significant improvement upon spend in 2020//22. Sussex ICB is expecting to record a £6.72m underspend against its £30.8m total, while Kent and Medway has forecast a £7.07m underspend against its £32.7m total. The data also showed that Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB recorded the greatest total underspend, with £4.46m – or nearly a quarter (23%) – of its £19.75m ARRS budget left unclaimed.Īnd two ICBs estimate more than a fifth (22%) of their total budget will go unclaimed. ![]() Surrey Heartlands ICB suggested that it was not possible at all to reallocate funding under the Network Contract.Ī spokesperson from Surrey Heartlands ICB told Pulse that the system had encouraged its PCNs to ‘maximise their spend on ARRS roles’, adding that it would wait for ‘further national guidance on the future of the ARRS initiative’ to inform its approach going forward.Īnd a spokesperson from Cheshire and Merseyside, which also indicated it couldn’t reallocate funding, said the ICB is working ‘proactively with our practices and the LMC to ensure that practices are able to maximize the use of resource that is available’. The investigation has also identified significant variation in the way systems are interpreting the PCN DES. Mr Gowland added that general practice is beginning to see the impact of ICSs’ departure from the primary care-focused CCGs: an issue that is ‘likely to get worse as ICSs become more and more distant and distinct’. It is highly unlikely we will see anything like the growth in the ARRS funds in future that we have seen over the course of this five-year contract.’ He added: ‘The most important thing for PCNs is to ensure that next year’s full amount is committed as early as possible, as the ongoing recurrent expenditure will likely be capped at the committed amount, not the budget itself, beyond March 2024. ARRS underspend therefore represents an underspend against the promised investment into general practice.’ And so a lot of the bidding for that underspend this year is to bolster roles for next year.’īen Gowland, director at think tank Ockham Healthcare and former NHS executive, said: ‘The majority of additional funds coming into general practice since 2019 have been funding through PCNs, and by far the biggest part of the PCN funding has been the ARRS funding. That’s probably where you’re getting underspend. We see a lot of practices – particularly smaller practices – say they can’t use a given ARRS role and would rather opt for a doctor or nurse, over a physio. Ms Sandford, who is also the manager for Torridge Health PCN, said the NPCCB also bid for clinical and admin roles to support its anticipatory care work, and a cost-of-living programme intended to support developing an approach around patients with significant long-term conditions and fuel poverty.Īnother clinical director for a Dartmoor PCN said: ‘I’m not surprised at all by the underspend. The locality is now considered hiring just one digital transformation lead to work with all PCNs in the region. The digital lead role was announced as a new entry into the ARRS in September last year: midway through the current financial year, meaning it was absent from initial workforce plans. Similarly, Hertfordshire and West Essex invited all 35 of its PCNs to update their workforce plans, and is expecting to reallocate £1.7m, despite recording an underspend of just £54,647.Īnd Birmingham and Solihull ICB has approved 19 PCN bids and is planning to allocate £1.3m of its £1.7m underspend.Ī large number of bids in Devon were for digital transformation leads, according to Caroline Sandford, who leads the Northern Primary Care Collaborative Board (NPCCB), which represents all PCNs across North Devon, and was involved in planning the ICB’s bidding process. Devon ICB has approved the most bids – accepting 61 from its 31 PCNs – granting £1.2m in extra cash for staff, despite estimating it will underspend by £800,000.Ī spokesperson explained that it expected a number of PCNs would not be able to recruit into the roles they submitted bids for within the limited time left in the financial year. ![]()
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